This is a common question because many things can cause this. First off, it is important to remember that while 56K is the theoretical limit a modem can connect on a normal analog phone line, NO modem ever connects at 56K. About the best a modem could ever achieve is 53K and a modem that connects at 40K or better in most cases is doing pretty well. Causes of slower connection speeds include: Unconditioned or poor quality phone lines.

Many factors influence your connection speed. Because modems use audible tones to communicate over analog voice telephone lines, they are very susceptible to phone line quality impairments. Such problems can make it difficult for the modems to hear the tones they are generating. These problems can exist anywhere along the path of your phone connection; in your home or office's wiring, at the phone company's central office and beyond.

First, the highest connection the FCC allows over standard phone lines is 53.3k. This is the fastest connect rate you can get. If your are connecting in the 40k-50k range, this is considered good for most dial up connections. If you connect at a rate less than you would like, your modems 56k protocol may not be compatible with ours. We support the fastest and most common protocols across most of our network, 56k Flex, v.90 and v.92. You can attempt to update your modem drivers.

The Federal Communications Commission capped the connect speed at 53K, and real-world access is generally in the 35-45K range for 56k modems. You may be dialing into a modem with a different 56k protocol than your modem. There are currently three different 56k protocols available: X2, 56k Flex, and v.90. The fastest, most reliable connections will be achieved when the two modems are using the same 56k protocol. You may not be using the appropriate modem initialization string.

Regional Bell Operating Companies are sometimes tariffed and will only allow (with perfect telephone line conditions) 53K. Tariffs are established by the FCC and by state Public Utility Commissions. Because analog lines are a little noisy (static), your modem will automatically slow down to accommodate for noise. It is normal for 56K modems to connect between 39 - 51K. This is still very good performance.

If you find that you're unable to achieve full speed connections and/or your new high-speed modem often behaves erratically, the reason is probably phone line impairment. That's not to imply that you have a bad phone line, merely one that may not be capable of what your modem is demanding of it. Most often the issue is insufficient bandwidth, poor frequency response, low signal to noise ratio, an impedance mismatch that causes echo. An imbalance in the phone lines, or a combination thereof..

All of InfoLinkISP's access points are V90/56K, however you will never connect at 56K, this is a theoretical speed. In reality, analog throughput is limited to a maximum of 53kbps per FCC regulations and in real live conditions speed will be lower and may fluctuate. The connection speed is very dependant on the phone line quality, the hardware/software and the environmental conditions. It can fluctuate.

There are a few things to consider. First of all, the maximum speed that a 56K modem can reach is 56,000 kilobits per second (Kbps). However, in the real world, this will almost never happen. Most 56K users will see connection speeds slightly less than the maximum. Secondly, the speed displayed in your connection window is only the initial connect speed. During the Internet session this speed can decrease or increase.

All of our modems are set to connect at a maximum of 56k but due to line impairments we find that some customers with 56k modems do not connect above 28800bps. A 56k connection is classified as any speed above 33600bps. We find that most of our customers with a clean telephone line and 56k modem usually connect between 37333bps and 53333bps. Below is a sample of actual connection speeds taken on 5/8/2000 around 3:00PM.

The FCC regulates that the analog throughput of all 56K modems be limited to a maximum of 53.333kbps. As a result, you will never be able to achieve a connection speed ......

There are several methods for computer connection, but it appears that Ethernet 10BaseT is emerging as the most predominant method. Although it probably would be cheaper to produce the cable modem as an internal card for the computer, this would require different printed-circuit cards for different kinds of computers, and additionally would make the demarcation between cable network and the subscriber's computer too fuzzy.

You probably need to upgrade your modem's driver software. Please refer to our instructions to identify your modem device and upgrade your device drivers. Most ISPs have upgraded their systems to handle 56k connections. If the problem still exists after the modem driver has been upgraded, then check the condition of your telephone line.

You probably have a 56k modem that supports 56k connections using X2 or the K56flex protocol, but not the V.90 protocol. These protocols are not compatible with the V.90 protocol. The highest speed you can get with such a modem at dial-up points is 33k6 according to the V.34 protocol. It is best to upgrade your modem to V.90 protocol, if your modem type allows this.

The most common reason is due to the lines your connection is running over from your local Telephone Company. You may be in an area where the switch from your local telephone company may not have been upgraded to accommodate higher speed connections. Be assured the local telephone company is in the process up upgrading all switches based on availability of resources. If your modem will allow you to choose a connection speed set it for 115,200 or as high as it will allow.

The 56K modems are digitally terminated, and transmissions don't have to be converted back to analog. This eliminates one analog loop, lowers noise levels, and allows the higher transmission rates. The K56flex modem achieves higher downstream speeds because digital signals are sent and received with very little noise. The upstream direction remains slower because a conversion must still be made at the client end.

The 56 k speed for a V.90 modem is theoretically the maximum speed the modem can reach. The actual speed of the connection depends on a great number of (usually external) factors, like the quality of the phone line and the distance of your connection to the neighborhood phone central. These circumstances may vary every time, causing the speed to fluctuate each and every time. In general the speed is between 33600 and 50000 bps.

First, the speed at which you connect to the Internet is determined by a number of factors: the speed of your modem (in this case, 56K), the modem type and speed supported at the number you dialed, the quality of the phone lines in your area, and the amount of traffic on the Internet. These factors can make your connection speed less than the speed listed for your modem, and very often it is.

No. Though all v.90 modems are 56K modems, not all 56K modems are v.90 modems. A v.90 modem is a 56K modem based on international standards. 56K modems other than v.90 do not conform to the standard and the different technologies used by them are incompatible.

Speed is the primary benefit. Theoretically, you can access the Internet at twice the speed of your old 28.8K modem. A second benefit is the cost of 56K modems: They cost about as much as 28.8K modems did a year or so ago. And using ISDN or similar data-transmission speeds is more costly. Other high-speed technologies such as ISDN and xDSL simply aren't available in many places.

Many or most 56k users average about 45k, however your connect speed is determined by a number of factors. The distance from your house to your local phone office (called a CO), the greater the distance the more capacitance and the more loss in the upper frequency ranges resulting in lower connect speeds. The quality or compatibility of your modem. We are sorry all modem manufacturers do not fully test their modems with various switches.

Have you already upgraded to V.90 compatibility? If not, please do this first, as this usually fixes most problems. There may be several reasons that your modem may be unable to connect at it's maximum published speed. For example, using a 56K modem does not guarantee connection rates of 56Kbps! In fact, all 56K modems support a range of connect rates, mainly between 30K and 54K.

Sometimes when you connect it only shows your port speed, this is not always the speed that you are actually connected at. If you think that you are only connecting at a very slow speed, make sure your are on the right dial in number for your modem and that you have the latest drivers installed. Also if you have made an extension to reach your computer make sure that the lead from your modem to the phone socket is as short as possible.

In fact, all 56K technologies use a range of connection rates, roughly between 32 Kbps and 56 Kbps. The actual connection rate will fall somewhere in that range and will depend greatly on the individual characteristics/quality of the phone line connection. As with current 28.8 technology, if you are not currently connecting at the maximum 28.8 Kbps with a 28.8 modem, chances are that your connections will vary using the 56K/V.90 modem.

Are you an ISP that will let me to use the 'shotgunning' dial-up technique, I.E. Hyperlink? Our dial-ups are limited to one simultaneous login (shotgunning requires 2) and we have no way to increase that number or support shotgunning at this time. Do I need a seprate program for chatting? Is it possible to chat to other people on the Internet? Yes, you can chat using the IRC (Internet Relay Chat), or any of the chat pages that seem to spring up on larger web pages (like yahoo.com).